A New Beginning
by Ballycastle-Bat
Summary: Barry searches for his family after crisis, but he finds much more.


[Notes: I posted this on AO3 and people seemed to like it! :D This was just supposed to be kind of mindless fluff, don't take it too seriously!

AU: Alternate Universe - Canon Diverance

Romantic Pairings: Barry Allen x Oliver Queen, Background Eddie Thawne x Iris West

Warnings: None, but there are some spoillers for Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover]

The last thing Barry remembered was holding Oliver's head up, Sara by his side as a new world was born. He didn't know why he woke up in the crime lab. He immediately grabbed the nearest piece of paper and read it several times. Then his computer, he started flipping through files.

Everything stayed the same. He looked down at his hands, counting his fingers. Ten. Okay. This was not a dream, he was really in CCPD, or at least what looked like it. He sighed and started to internally ask himself where he was. His first thought was his family. Iris, Wally, Joe, William. He needed to know where they were William and Jenna were. He didn't want to have been involved in erasing anymore kids.

He stood, and started to move downstairs. Unaware of where he was going to start. He ran to his loft, but it was empty. There was nothing, no furniture or anything. As he was running, he was forced to confront the fact that Oliver was dead, and he was dealing with that in his usually way; running. No matter what problems there were, there was always another problem to run to, a problem he could fix. So, he needed to know where his family was.

He fell to his knees in the empty loft. Where was his home on this reality? What was happening ? "Barry!" he looked up through the large windows and saw Kara Danvers and J'onn J'onzz. Thank god he thought. After Kara explained what they had discovered, Barry decided he needed to find his family and make sure they were safe.

BA OQ BA OQ BA OQ

When Barry rushed through the doors at the West house, he started calling names. "Joe? Iris?" he marched through the house. No matter what timeline or earth he'd explored the West house was the same. He was greeted by Eddie Thawne. He popped his head out of the kitchen with a grin. "Hey, Barry! Are you here to see Iris? She just went out."

Barry reached out and clapped Eddie on the shoulder, to make sure he was real and not part of the speed force, but played if off as a friendly greeting. "Eddie! I was looking for you and Iris. Where is she?" It wasn't exactly a lie, not by any means. Eddie was his family, he just … wasn't aware that Eddie was a family member he should be looking for.

Eddie crossed his arms, seeming to not believe that. "She's at your house. She said she was specifically craving Oliver's cooking."

Barry stared at him. "Which one?" he tried to laugh it off slightly with a joke.

Eddie crossed his arms. "What happened in 2014 that prompted me to punch Barry in the face?" He asked seriously.

"I … tried to get Iris to be with me." he coughed awkwardly, hoping that was the last identity conforming questions. "Listen, Eddie, it's me, some stuff just happened. It's very important that I make sure Jenna and everyone is safe. We-- we lost someone in this crisis." He needed Eddie to know how dire the situation was.

"Barry … I'm so sorry." he squeezed Barry's arm sympathetically but he also could tell the current situation was urgent. "Joe and Cecile moved up north with Wally a few months ago. They're all there with Jenna. You should check home for everyone else. Your old childhood home."

Barry nodded. "Thank you." and he was gone before Eddie could fully process the words.

When Barry arrived at home, he didn't waste any time. He rushed in through the front door. Stopping only to look around, when he saw William in the living room, he got to him with the aid of the speed force. He hadn't the slightest idea why William was in his living room, but he would take over him having been somehow harmed or erased in the crisis.

Barry lowered himself closer to William's height in relief, letting out the breath he'd been holding. "Are you okay?" He started to fuss over him, looking for injuries before looking at his face. "Will, are you hurt?" he was looking him in the face now.

Willaim wrinkled his nose. "I'm fine, Papa, gosh. You always get so worried." he rolled his eyes.

Papa . Barry stopped for a moment. He and Oliver had always been … but he wasn't this involved with Oliver when everything happened. Not that be didn't welcome it, he did have a good relationship with Wiliam. He adored him.

He wasn't sure how this would have changed. He hugged William tightly, kissing the top of his head. "Yeah … I'm sorry. Some stuff happened today, and I was scared that you were caught up in it."

"Dad!" William called. "Papa took out a big bad today!"

Iris and Oliver appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. "Why didn't you call me?" he had a hot pan in his hand, which he quickly realised and moved back to put it back on the stove.

Barry slowly let go of William and crossed the house into the kitchen. He hugged Iris, who was significantly pregnant. "Congratulations again. Can I talk to my -- can I talk to Oliver for a moment?" he swallowed thickly.

To Iris, Barry looked like someone died, she made a face at his congratulations , but let it roll off given the circumstances. She kissed him on the cheek. "Yeah, Barr," she said softly and stepped out of the room. Barry could hear her talking to William in the other room, but was unable to make out what they were saying.

Barry stared at Oliver for a few seconds. "Ollie," his voice was soft, "We're married?" he expected Oliver to remember the crisis, as he and Kara, and J'onn had, but apparently he did not.

"Barry, what happened to you today?" his voice was serious. In the same way he always said I'm here for you over the years. He turned off the stove, and put an arm around Barry.

Something washed over Barry then; a sense of safety. It was like, maybe this all really was over. Maybe Oliver had created the world, and gotten to live in it. He finds himself pressing into Ollie. "You don't remember it at all?" he whispered. "None of it?"

Oliver's touch shifted and his other arm wrapped around him when Barry started to feel heavier against him. "Hey, what should I remember? What happened?"

Barry remembered their final moments face to face so clearly, the brief time they had alone spent much like this; holding each other. Even with Oliver in his new Spetre form, he was solid enough for Barry to hold him.

He'd insisted they would make it out if they worked together like they always had. Oliver wasn't so sure. Then, even though they knew they didn't have time for regrets, but they expressed those anyway.

"You were dead. Dig tried to get your soul from purgatory but you wouldn't go, then you … became something else, but still you." Barry pressed his face against Oliver's neck, confronted his familiar scent, he began to settle more. Though it seemed to be. When Oliver was Spectre, it was different and he felt different to Barry … this was all Oliver. This is what Oliver Queen felt like under his touch, and how he smelled, it was his voice.

So maybe in the birth of the new earth, Oliver really had been untouched by the crisis in the other universe, or whatever they would have to refer to this as. "I think you know by now that I don't give up that easy."

The tears crashed through then. "It was so bad, Ollie, all the earths died. There isn't a multiverse anymore. We don't know who's dead, or who's just forgotten."

"There was … a multiverse?" Oliver was silent after that, just holding Barry close to him. Barry was sure that Oliver was imagining what Barry and the other heroes had been going through in the current crisis.

Barry nodded slowly. "Yeah." his eyes fell closed for a second before he pulled out of Oliver's arms. He wasn't entirely sure what was happening now, what they would face in the future, but they could face it together.

Oliver let Barry pull away but was watching him with concern. "Okay," he said softly. "We'll figure this out. We always do."

"Tell me about when we got married." Barry just wanted to breathe for a second. J'onn would be there soon to fill Iris in he was sure, and then he would realise Oliver didn't remember. "Please."

Barry allowed Oliver to comfort him for the moment, gently rubbing his arms. "Okay, Barry." His voice was soft. "We got married in twenty-seventeen." He kissed Barry's temple, gently. "Do you want me to get the pictures?"

"There's pictures?" he knew first hand that propper weddings were few and far between in this super-life, so the fact that they had a wedding photo surprised him.

Oliver smiled a little, his eyes crinkling around the edges. "Yeah, hold on." he headed out of the room, returning in a few seconds with a framed photo. It wasn't exactly what Barry imagine when Oliver said a wedding picture … but it was perfect.

The photo was a bit of a wide shot, Ray standing between them. William was standing with Oliver, and Iris with Barry. Barry was in his Flash suit, and Oliver still wore his own. There were other members of the teams in the photo as well. "I take it, we just took the chance?" Barry offered with a small laugh.

"Yeah, we were cooped up on the ship after a mission shortly after I got custody of William." He watched as Barry looked at the photo one more time before he set it on the counter and pulled Oliver into a soft kiss. "Why weren't we married in the other earth?" he seemed hesitant about asking.

Barry sighed and pulled back. "Because," he crossed his arms. "We were idiots."

"Care to elaborate?" Oliver pressed, a small smile playing on his lips.

Barry stared at the floor for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain their situation. "I loved you, and you loved me." he figured he would have to say that much. "Everyone knew, William knew, hell I'm pretty sure Gideon knew and she's an AI. We were … kind of together but we didn't get our heads out of our asses until we were drugged by Team Flash and locked in a cell together. At one point during all that, you said if we survived you would marry me but ..."

Tears welled up in Barry's eyes again as he was hit with everything. "Then you died fighting in this crisis. I didn't know I would get to come home to you, Ollie."

"I'm sorry I don't remember, but we'll face whatever comes next together, like we always have." you he paused for a moment. "Wait, so you don't know about the girls?"

"The girls?" Barry was turned around by both of Oliver's strong hands.

Oliver pointed to the sonograms on the fridge, over his shoulder. "Nora and Mia Allen. You broke me down, and Iris was more than happy to be our surrogate."

"How did I do that?" Barry touched the hand on his shoulder

Oliver kissed the back of Barry's head. "You sent me Flash onesies and I cried." It was obvious that Oliver was half joking, but Barry felt … better about the reality ahead.

A voice broke apart their moment. "I see you've located Oliver." J'onn stood in the doorway. He was wearing his human face, most likely in worry of making Iris and William feel ill at ease, or someone being in the house that didn't know just how different their friends were.

"Yeah." Barry shook his head, trying to recover from the information overload. At least it was good. There was a home here, with Oliver, where he was alive. "Oliver doesn't remember the crisis though."

J'onn stepped forward. "I'll give him your memories of the crisis."

"Wait." Barry moved in front of Oliver. "Maybe he doesn't need to remember you know … dying."

Oliver squeezed Barry's shoulder. "No, it's okay. Show me." his voice level.

J'onn carefully pressed two fingers to Oliver's temple. A light shone through and Oliver winced. His hand gripped Barry's shoulder in a different way and he was leaning heavily on Barry now. J'onn couldn't pick and choose what he gave him, so Oliver was being overloaded with all of Barry's memories of Oliver, not just the crisis. All at once, in one split second.

He inhaled sharply and nodded. "Okay, so what's the next step?" he asked seriously, already in fight mode. Just like Oliver.

"We should touch base," J'onn started. "There is a lot to discuss now that we all seem to be of the same earth …" he reached out and touched both their heads. "but for now, we should all rest."

Barry was flooded with the missing pieces from this new world from Oliver. Some were good, and some were bad, some were worse, but they were there, and this world was theirs and Barry loved every piece of it. He was ready to move forward and continue fighting by Oliver's side for as long as they could.


End file.
